At the moment everyone seems to be watching South Beach or is it North beach.
No one seems to be interested in the tropics..

So I am off to Islamorada in the Keys on Wednesday morning.

If the weather is good I may get into some reds, snook or tarpon and if I am very lucky I might catch a Key's bonefish.

This is my last trip before going to Cape Cod at the end of May.

Pete

Adrian

04-23-2007, 04:00 PM

Good luck down there Pete!

Hope the weather holds and the 150lb SIlver Kings cooperate :smokin:

jimS

04-23-2007, 09:15 PM

As springs arrives, we tend to begin thinking about the fisheries in our neck of the woods. I know that the tarpon fishery begins to heat up now in the Keys, but our striped friends are beginning to arrive and most of us do not multi-task.

Good luck in Islamorade. Who is your guide? I've fished several times with Tad Burke and Tim Klein our of Lorelei.

petevicar

04-24-2007, 05:33 AM

Hi Jim
I will be fishing with a good friend of mine Jeff Johnson
I know Tim Klein very well, he is a great guide.
I have also fished once with Tad, when I was beginning, and never again. There are some people who are probably not cut out to be in the service business. I'll leave it there.

In fact I know most of the guides who fish out of the Lorelei.
I have fished there many, many times with all sorts of guides, some very good and some very bad.
I felt at one time that it was my second home.
It will be great to get back, I have not been there for 3 or 4 years.

Pete

josko

04-24-2007, 08:42 AM

Pete, I've had the worst luck, if it was luck, with Keys guides and am wondering if anyone can shed some light on what went wrong:
I tried it 4 times, twice with an Orvis-endorsed outfit out of the Ocean Reef club, once from the Cheeca lodge, and once from World Wide Sportsman in Islamorada. All four times the guides were arrogant, difficult, wanted me to take casting tests before setting out, and in general played up on the exclusivity, competitiveness and difficulty of the fishery. The were the four harshest guides I'd ever been with.
I think I'm a decent caster, and can get along just fine with guides from Miami, Everglades city (Bouncer Smith, Dave Cassady, Scott Hamilton, etc) and anywhere north, east, west or south of there. I'd say I averaged 15-20 guided trips a year for the past decade and managed to get along with everyone except those four keys geniuses. I thought I was reasonably diligent about checking them out, but apparently not.
What is it about keys fishing that's different from elsewhere on the globe? Is it a particular guides' attitude, scarcity of fish, oversupply of sports, or just that I got real unlucky four times in a row.
Now, this was about a decade ago, so maybe things have changed, but I told myself then I will not fish with a keys guide again, and so, far, I've stuck to it, although work takes me to Key West rather often. I'm tempted to try again, but frankly, it's not worth risking another of those encounters again.
All hints are welcome.

rogcon

04-24-2007, 10:18 AM

I have been going to the Keys for the last 15+ yrs. . During that time I've met some very good guides that I consider friends. That being said, I've also run into some that are insufferable SOB's. They seem to be born with a chip on their shoulder or they just feel it's part of "their heritage" to play the role of the Keys guides from the past. I remember being berated for not being able to drop a merkin to a permit 70 ft. behind me on my backcast with one false cast. Oh, and there was a 20+mph wind from behind ! I handed the guide the rod & said, "show me". He piled the line up 12 ft. from the skiff. Now, I'am not the best caster, in fact, I suck compared to many others, & I'd be the first to admit it. I think some of the the of the Keys guides have a tendency to blame the client's casting ability for
their own inability to put you on fish. Now granted, NO guide is always going to be able to put all their customers on fish all the time. It's the nature of the game. But to always blame the customer for a bad cast at what was a terrible shot in the first place is wrong. Unfortunately, while the good guides are booked solid, the bad ones will still be making their $450 plus tip/day.

petevicar

04-24-2007, 12:15 PM

I have fished with over 20 different guides in the Keys.
I have enjoyed myself with many of them but one or two can be a little difficult.

In general they all seem to think that the Keys is the only place to fish. They are sometimes a little narrow minded.

There are a few though who will totally go out of their way to make sure that you catch fish. There is even one special guide who feels that if you don't then it is his fault.

The important thing is to remember that you are the customer and should not be intimidated by someone who is working for you. When I am fishing with someone new I always try to suss them out early on and a good understanding at the beginning is essential to ensure that you have an enjoyable day out.

Fishing is supposed to be fun.

Pete

JTWG

04-24-2007, 02:54 PM

Josko, I've fished with 3 guides down in the keys. Two were great, one was a jerk. I think a lot of the points brought up are good. A casting test to see if you can double haul 80 ft in the wind is crap. My first guide pulled that on me, but I'm more experienced now and wouldn't stand for that again.

I do have a good guide i would recommend if you want to pm me. He's really laid back and, most importantly, put me on a bunch of fish. IMHO, that's all you can ask for. If you're seeing a lot of fish, the rest is up to you.

juro

04-24-2007, 03:01 PM

You should hook up with Ben Iannotta Jr., bigfishonfly.com

You can read his column in the local newspaper (Summerland Key) to see what kind of quality experience you can expect. Not at all the soup-nazi style outing that the Keys are known for.

A good number of forum members have had great outings with him over the years.

SteelBoneguy

04-24-2007, 05:32 PM

I've had 2 guide trip to the Keys, both left a lot to be desired. The first guy was ok, and is really well known but was more about marketing himself, and being pompus.

2nd guy was unprofessional and lazy. Was out of Duck Key. His reason why he wouldn't change the fly reel retrieve to left hand was deep down all men jerk off w/ their right so even though you prefer to reel w/ the left the right hand is better. Then he found out I'm in the health profession and wanted me to WORK and check him out. Told him I didn't have a FL license for my excuse not to check him out but wouldn't let it go. Later pointed out a sandbar where he banged some chick. Then another crazy story how he and friend came across a guy on a jet ski w/ a hot girlfriend so they picked up the girl on their boat and left the guy stranded by himself for over 3 hours while they supposely were getting help when instead they hit on the gal and drank Coronas and ate stone crabs...
I was spotting fish faster than he was. :mad: Ticks me off just thinking about it again.

I'm DIY yourself style this June w/ my 2 brothers and dad.

Pete GOOD LUCK TAKE PICS. May the salt fish smile down upon you!!

Bob Bergquist

04-24-2007, 08:09 PM

I guided two Key West guides on the Yellowstone a couple of years ago and got some great stories about the good and the bad down there. Quite cutthroat and a strange scene. A lot of truth in 92 in the Shade!

My wife and I went on trip there a few years ago and the guy insisted I call him "Captain Pete", until I insisted he call me "Captin Bob" in return. We were quiet most of the day!

SteelBoneguy

04-24-2007, 09:03 PM

Bob- Err Capt Bob that was hilarious. lol :chuckle:

tight-lines

04-24-2007, 09:31 PM

What about 'Captin' KirK?

Have a great time Pete,
And you can safely say your definatly not going back this time
if @#$% is re-elected :Eyecrazy:

josko

04-25-2007, 08:37 AM

So why is the Keys guiding scene so uniquely 'quirky'?

juro

04-25-2007, 08:49 AM

My wife and I went on trip there a few years ago and the guy insisted I call him "Captain Pete", until I insisted he call me "Captin Bob" in return. We were quiet most of the day!